Stocking



(No Model.)

STOGKING.

N0. 369,637. Patented Sept. 6, 1887.

MNHNMmmmmmwmwmmmmm HHH wn c ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmwwwmmmnuv f Z null.:

' @W7 nM/Ly 77,-'. jzeyf.

N, PEYERS. rhum-unwgmpher. wnsnngwn. D. c.

NTTE STATES l PATENT trice..

NEHEMIAH T. FOLSOM, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO I). I?.

FOLSOM, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

KING..

SPECJIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369.637, dated September 6, 1887.

Application tiled March 3, 1887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NEHEMIAH T. FoLsoM, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of'Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stockings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the toe portion of stockings.

It is the object of my invention to construct the toe portion of a stocking so that it will conform as nearly as may be to the natural shape of that portion of the foot, so that the toes of the wearer may not be crowded out of their natural position, and so that discomfort in the use of the stockings and distorted feet may accordingly be avoided.

It has been common heretofore in the manuf facture of stockings to make such articles morel or` less pointed at the toe, and to form such point in the center, or nearly so, of the toe of the stocking. Vhile it may be that this form gives to the foot of vainly-inclined persons what may be calleda symmetrical shape77 when the stocking is drawn thereon, it is a fact that it has the effect of crowding the toes ofthe wearer out of their natural position, by gradually and continually drawing the toe portion oi' the foot of the wearer out of its natural shape, (it being impossible to break in a stocking to the shape of the foot,) resulting in great discomfort to the wearer, as also in 1iding-toes,7 curled-under toes,77 ingrowing nails, eorns, bunions, Src. These difficulties and objections are overcome by my invention, as I will now proceed to describe and claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, in which drawings- Figure l represents a side elevation in dutline of my improved stocking. Figs. 2 and 8 are diagrams showing the nature of my improvement as compared with stockings of common construction. Figs. 1I and 5 are diagrams indicating bottom plan views of the feet of a pair of stockings constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4L or5 of the foot of a stocking of common construction upon which my invention is an improvement.

Serial No. 229,536. (No model.)

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In carrying out my invention I knit theleg, heel, and foot portions of the stocking down to the line a a, where the toe is commenced, in any of the known ways. At the point ct c, which may be supposed to be a point just beyond the forward end of the little toe, I commence narrowing on the little-toe side, Z, of the stocking 0nly,which narrowing is pursued, by preference, quite abruptly along the line c from the point a to the point b. the stocking being presumed to be completed at the latter point, when, if the stocking shall have been knitted as a circular seamless web down to the point a, the edges of theweb are united by seaming or looping along the line b b o, complet ing the stocking. By this process itwill be seen that no narrowing whatever is done on the great-toe side-9, so that a full and substantially square corner is formed in the stocking, as at d; and in order to adaptstockings of this structure to both feet of the wearer it becomes necessary to make them inpairs, as rights and lefts 7 -that is, form one stocking adapted to lit the right foot and another stocking to fit the left foot .so thatthe great toe in each will come in the full partd and the littletoeat the point where the narrowing commenced along the line c. In this wayI am enabled to form astocking in which ample room will be afforded the toes of the foot of the wearer, as represented in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

In Fig. 6 I have shown a diagram representing a stocking-foot having a toe of common form. In this case it will be seen that the toe is gradually narrowed along the lines umbringing the end nearly to a fpoint, as at o. The effect of a stocking of this character when drawn upon the foot of the weareris to cramp and crowd the toes together, as represented in FigQS, and by keeping them thus crowded together from morning till night, in a shoe however roomy, causes more or less discomfort, the toes, as it were, worrying and sweating like things having knowledge within themselves until released by the removal of the stocking.v A repetition of this crowding and Acramping of the toes day after day and year l after year results in a distortion and deforma- IOO tion of the foot, as'hereinbefore explained, as also frequently in ingrowing nails, corns, bunions, and the like.

I have sometimes formed the toe of the stocking entirely square, as shown in Fig. l; but this construction does not answer so well, sinoe the toes of the foot in their natural position, when the stocking at other points lits properly, do not take up all of the slack or superfluous fabric formed at the end of the stocking.

VhiIe I have been particular in describing the manner in which I prefer to'shape the toe of the stocking, by narrowing at one side thereof, I would have it understood that this process may be varied without departing from the nature or spirit of the invention, the essential feature of which is the so shaping of the toe portion of the stocking thatitwill conform to the natural form of the toe portion of the foot.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A stocking having abrupt narrowings on one side only of the toe portion thereof, whereby the stocking is shaped to conform to the natural form of the toe portion of the foot, substantially as set forth.

2. A pair of stockings, each having the great-toe side, g, knitted as full as the footportion, and having abrupt narrowings on the little-toe side, Z, substantially as set forth.

3. A stocking having the leg, heel, and foot portions knitted in any known manner and the toe portion formed by narrowing the same on one side and forming it square on the other, substantially as set forth.

4. A stocking having the leg, heel, and foot portions knitted in any dknown manner and the toe portion formed by knitting the greattoe side, g, as full as the foot portion, and having the little-toe side, Z, gradually narrowed at c, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have signed my nam to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 28th day of February, A. D. 1887.

NEHEMIAH T. FOLSOM.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR W. CRossLEY, WILLIAM C. RAusAY. 

